Kingdom Hearts: The Key of Power
by The Bookkeeper
Summary: Long ago, before the fateful night when Sora's life was changed and he became a mighty Keyblade master, another existed. This individual witnessed everything from the first Heartless to the Nobody masters, and so he would pave the way for Sora's victory.
1. Prologue

**Prologue: The Rumors At Rolin**

Before you ask, I was given permission by the previous author to continue this fanfic.

It took me several minutes to finish the large application to sign him up for ''The Struggle''. There were many pages of information needed, and many bits of the information that were asked for made no difference in the games. I walked over the huge platform set up for The Struggle Tournament that was going to go on tomorrow, in the courtyard in front of the Memory Skyscraper Hotel. I walked over to the skinny man wearing a suit in the corner, with a large brown moustache. Around him were several other teenagers, handing in their applications. I handed him the paper and went to see who else was going to be in the tournament. There was Thiago, Pedro, Anthony, Ahmed, Logan, Jesse, and the former winner of The Struggle Tournament, some kid named Eald'Narche.

Many people were expecting this to be a great fight, with many competitors, most of them quite active, joining the Struggle. There are tens of thousands of people living in the city of Rolin, and life is not easy. However, an inventor seeks to make life easier with a rediculous invention known as an 'automobile'. Its supposed to run on gas and transport people, but walking works just as well! Many people told me 'Good luck tomorrow, Marcello. Hope you win.' as a sign of reassurance. Still, I couldn't get it off my mind, and I knew that as soon as I get back home, I'd have to train. I glanced down at my watch- 7:15 pm. I had to get home for dinner and training. I walked for half an hour through the twisting alleyways and streets of Rolin, as usual. When I got home, I found that a plate of excellent lasagna was waiting for me.

I thanked my mother for the food, and ate it hungrily. I ate quickly, impatiently, so I could get to my room and train against my punching bag. In a mere 10 minutes, I was finished, and sprinted to my room. It was still almost 8:00, so I had four hours. Of course I wouldn't use those 4 hours for training, only two. I knocked the bag back and forth, dodging its returning blows. By the time I was done, I was sweating all over my chest, and I took a hot shower. It was nearly 10:20 pm by the time I finished my shower, and I went to play some games. Then, I heard my doorbell ring, and I went to answer the door. It was Anthony, along with Jesse.

'Hey Marcello, want to come out and do what we were planning to do last week?' Jesse asked.

'What was that?' I wondered, my memories of last week clouded by more important things.

'We were going to go check out mysterious spots. Y'know, weird crap. There are three- one behind your house in the big circle park at the fountain, another about sounds of laughing and screaming under the abandoned house across from Memory Scyscraper, and a last one about a locked door in the basement of the Memory Skyscraper. Did you know that nobody has ever, ever managed to open that door? No one knows its origins, hopefully we can find out.' Anthony said, a tone of excitement in his voice.

'Those are only rumors, and I intend to prove that to you! I just need to go get my jacket first, since its cold.' I said, finally remembering our activities. I returned in a few moments with my jacket and we set off.

We didn't even need to use any map to find our way, we had lived here all our lives. First stop was the park. I entered the huge park, spanning a half-mile, which featured loads of trees and a few large ponds. It was originally a set of mansions, but was destroyed in a fire, reconstructed into a park. The city urgently needed one. There were many routes through the park, and there were barely any people around as we walked through the path. At the center of the park was a gorgeous fountain. It was in the shape of a fireman, in honor of those who saved the lives of the hundreds trapped amidst the fire long ago. It spat out water into its bowl surrounding it, through one of those hoses firemen carry around. Of course, the pressure of the water was only a fraction of the full strength of a fireman's hose.

'So, you say there have been… black inky creatures showing up around here?' I asked, looking around.

'That's what I heard.' Anthony said, scratching his head. 'This place is busted, I think.'

I dipped my head in the water, and noticed nothing. In seconds, I had seen enough, and tried to tug my head out of the water. It wasn't moving! I felt my head dip farther inside against my will. Instantly, I saw 2 glowing yellow lights deep in the water, bobbing up and down but always remaining parallel. I tried to pull my head out, but something was stopping me. I could move my arms, just not my head. I began to struggle, as I exhaled into the water. I had to find a way out, and quickly. At last, after a few moments, the eyes got closer, and I saw an oval head, pitch-black, looking at me from deep within the water. It had no mouth, only two lidless yellow eyes, and two thick zig-zagging tentacles on its bald head.

Then, I felt the invisible force release me, and I threw myself out of the water, gasping for air. I fell down on the floor, inhaling, Jesse and Anthony having no idea what had just occurred. They pulled me up quickly, as I coughed, enjoying oxygen once more.

'Marcello, what happened? We were trying to talk to you, but your head was in the water. You stayed there for almost half a minute, and we thought you were going to drown soon. Turns out you almost did.' Anthony said, shrugging his shoulders.

'I saw it, I saw something.' I said, coughing. 'I saw a creature, yellow eyes and a black head, no mouth.' I said. Suddenly, I remembered exactly what had happened.'Hey, did any of you two hold me in there!?' I asked.

'No, we wouldn't do that. Anyway, you say you saw something in there? Well, time to check' Jesse asked. He walked over to the fountain, and dipped his head in. After a few seconds, he removed his face from the water. 'I saw nothing. Nothing yellow glowing or anything.'

'Strange. Anyway, we'll just say the mystery is busted, since Jesse didn't see anything. Sorry man, I think you're going insane.' Anthony said, chuckling.

I wondered, as we walked out of the park and toward the memory skyscraper, what had happened at the fountain. I decided to keep it out of my mind as I focused on what was happening now. Once we reached it, we walked up one of the slopes leading to the lobby. We asked the secretary if we could be lead to the basement, and uncover the mystery. She warned me not to touch anything, and allowed us entry. It was dim, with only one light, and was a large room with many cabinets, covered by tarps. At the end, stood a large, tall white door. It had 2 handles, fancy objects, and with the color of gold. In-between them was a large keyhole, like those on typical door handles, except much larger. A line ran vertically across the door, through the keyhole.

I walked up to it, in awe at the beauty and size of this door, Anthony and Jesse responding to the shiny door similarly. Anthony pulled the handles back, but nothing happened. We stuck our hands a foot into the depths of the heyhole but felt nothing. This was a thick door. Jesse glanced around the room and noticed a small hammer at the corner of the basement. He ran up to it and picked it up, dragging the huge thing to the door and then swinging it at the large door. Even with all his strength, the hammer simply bounced off the door, not even leaving a scratch.

'So, the rumors of the door existing are true then.' Jesse said, speaking to himself. He looked towards us, and put the hammer down. 'Lets get going, this mystery cannot be solved, the door won't open.' Jesse said, sighing in defeat, and walked towards the stair leading up to the corridor, which in turn, leads to the lobby.

Anthony followed, and I pondered the possible relation between these two events for a second. I quickly became absorbed in my thoughts, and by the time I looked up, the two were already up on the stair and had left the basement. I suddenly heard a loud click behind me, and turned around. It came from the keyhole, and I walked up to it, pulling the door handles. The door easily opened, and after pulling it a few inches, I saw an immensely bright light emitting from within. I opened it fully, and the light bathed the entire room in warmth. Then, I felt a strong wind from within the room, pushing me away from it. It threw me onto the ground, and small objects in the basement began floating towards the far end of the room.

I quickly grabbed the side of one of the cabinets, and tried pulling myself up to no avail. I then noticed one of the small purple objects fly out of the door towards me. This was the fictional shape of a heart, you know, with the two curves. Yeah. I couldn't believe it, and I was too deep in thought to pay further attention to it. I felt a small pop, like a bubble disappearing, and the heart was gone. Unexpectedly, hundreds of other hearts started to pour out of the door, until the whole room was filled with hearts, and the unnatural wind ended.. I dropped to the ground and started moving through what felt like a pool of hearts. Each one felt like a small bubble, and once I touched one of the 'hearts', it popped. Once I reached the door, I quickly slammed it shut. I looked back, and saw every one of the hundreds of hearts in the room began to float towards me.

I didn't know what was happening, and I suddenly felt an immense feeling of energy as I absorbed the heart-shaped bubbles. In about a minute, the hearts had been absorbed, although I felt an odd feeling. I suddenly felt energetic, like I've never felt before, my body pulsing with strength! I leaped up, and felt myself be propelled by an unknown force, easily touching the ceiling. Honestly, that had to be at least 10 feet high. I felt my body limbs be augmented, and felt like I had no match. Nobody could conquer me! Then, I suddenly snapped out of my thoughts- where have Jesse and Anthony gone? Ah yes, they have left. Wasting no time, I ran towards the stair, which was slightly more difficult with the now-dim light.

Then, I heard footsteps, and stopped. Both Anthony and Jesse were walking down the stairs, stopping a moment to get used to the darkness. They looked around, and noticed me as I walked towards them. They frowned, motioning for me to get to the stairs. I walked up to it and slowly stepped from one step to the other, amazed by what had just happened, in so little time.

'Marcello, what were you doing? I got all the way to the arena and waited for you and Anthony. When he got there, you were still off. We waited for you, and then gave up. You were gone for, like, five minutes. What was wrong with you?' Jacob asked, leaning on the wall.

'There is no need to tell you, you wouldn't believe me.' I said, nodding my head. 'It's about 11:00 pm, we'll have to check out the other rumor tomorrow. After the odd murders going on, the police will be swarming the city after that time. We should go.' And simply looked away, turning and beginning to walk towards the street leading all the way to my house.

'I guess. Well, turns out you are crazy, Marcello. That's something else we will have to investigate tomorrow. Remember, we can investigate it after 7:00 am, the curfew officially ends. Meet up here at 8:00, okay? We'll investigate both cases.' He said, laughing. 'Well, g'night, man.'

'Good night' I said, as we all went our separate ways. We live about half an hour of walking from eachother, a perfect triangle. Now, after I returned outside, the immense amount of energy I had absorbed seems to have disappeared. As a result, I'm now twice as tired as I should be at this time. The curfew had ended last night, but they didn't know that, so I had the perfect excuse to go to bed. Mmm, bed…


	2. One

**Chapter 1: The Struggle**

In the morning, I woke up, feeling far less tired than last night, and put on my clothes. Luckily, I had awoken at just the right time and had just enough time to get ready for the day. An ordinary red t-shirt and baggy jeans were good enough for clothes. I slowly ate breakfast, pondering the amazing events last night, and walked outside to meet Jacob and Anthony at the Struggle Tournament Arena. There, we met up and turned to the abandoned building across the street from the hotel. We begin walking towards the abandoned building just a hundred yards away.

Nobody, now, is old enough now to remember anything about the building or it's usage. The documents were destroyed in the fire, and the building (which was barely known at the time anyway) became abandoned. People have heard that it was once home to a murderer, a serial killer and torturer who was discovered and neutralized by the great grandfather of Eald'Narche in his own home. Now, there was the sound of laughing and screaming deep under the buildings. Unfortunately, the police had not considered the fact that the murders could be occuring here, and neither of us had any plans to call the police.

The three walked inside at the same time. It appeared to be concrete from the outside, but the inside was completely wooden. This morning, there were no screams to be heard, and the Struggle Tournament was set to begin at 1:00 pm. Plenty of time.

We entered, and walked through several rooms. The furniture was completely trashed, thrown against the walls with paper and wood covering the floor, and we had to step over most of it to get around. Eventually, we came up to the door leading down to the basement. The answer to the rumor lay below, and Jesse was not willing to wait. In moments, he had picked up a piece of metal, a pipe, from the ground. Raising it over his head, he slammed it down into the basement with all his power. There was merely a thump, no more. The wood should have been broken, but it wasn't.

'What's this all about!? It should have been broken!' Jesse said, slamming the door on the ground multiple times. He threw the pipe away and sighed, shaking his head. 'What a waste. I guess this one cannot be discovered, just like the other rumor. They're all busted, I guess. Let's go' he said, walking off.

Quickly, I decided to return to check this rumor when the Tournament was done, and went to get our toy swords in the locked cabinet, along with our costumes, which held 100 marbles each. We checked the match up chart, and found our opponents. and it turns out that I would fight Thiago first, and Anthony would fight Eald'Narche, while Jesse fights Logan, and Ahmed fights Pedro. If I win, I'll go on to fight either Jesse or Logan, and if I win that fight, I will fight the remaining guy, while the other guys I don't duel fight each other. I suited up, and it turns out I was blue, with Logan red.

The suits were pretty nice. They were not actually suits, but fiber nets that wrapped around clothing and held exactly ten pouches, with ten other pouches on the back. I will explain. Each pouch held 10 marbles, and once all 10 pouches belonged to either player, that player one. The game was popular, especially around our age. I certainly planned to win this tournament, despite losing the last tournament to Eald on my first round. That boy is seriously on steroids or something, I've never seen fighting as good as his.

At the first fight, I stood ready for fighting with my plastic blue sword. The 10 pouches, each filled with 10 blue orbs, laid on the small, slippery holes in my tight fiber net. The bell rang, and Thiago charged first, with all his speed. Thiago was an odd boy from school, a short young man with long black hair and baggy clothes. That was quite unusual, considering the skinniness of his limbs. I found his face quite funny, it always wound remind me of a monkey. He was an amateur at The Struggle, he had probably entered on the recommendation of a friend, or to prove his might. Crazy boy.

I found that the strange energy given to me yesterday still remained, and I felt stronger than I usually do at this time of the day. I simply sidestepped it and smacked him across the arm with the sword. A pouch flew out of one net cavity, and I rushed to grab it. I placed it in one of my 10 empty costume holes and charged. My sword fell short of my target by one foot, and I quickly backed away to avoid his counter. I returned his attack by charging into him and slamming his chest with my shoulder. Two more pouches flew out, and I grabbed one, Thiago managing to take the other in mid-air. I kicked his hand, and took the pouch as it flew off, as well as another that slipped from his shoulder.

So far, I have 14, out of the 20 I need. He attempted to make a powerful slash to my neck to knock me down, but I ducked, and performed a powerful uppercut. He fell back away, all his pouches but one flying out of the holes in his jacket. I took them as they fell on the ground, and as he laid down, I slammed his left leg with my toy sword, the last pouch flying away and falling next to my foot. For pleasure, I hit him one last time and picked up the pouch, placing it on my suit. The bell rang again- this time, signifying my victory.

It turns out that I still had to use blue orbs in the next fight, about 20 minutes after my previous duel. Anthony was unable to defeat Narche, despite his great skill, Jesse beat Logan by a few seconds however (Logan surrendered, Jesse dished out some pain). Ahmed easily defeated Pedro. Next, I was up against Jesse. Unfortunately, I am fast, but very susceptible to pain. Jesse's hits are fast and strong, making him a dangerous opponent. I heard the bell ring, and made the first move. Jesse was the type that one could easily become annoyed with. A boy with short, spiky hair that defied gravity, Jesse only removed his glasses for cases like these. His round face showed focus, with a touch of attempted intimidation.

I charged, as fast as I could, but he succeeded in dodging my blow. He tried to counter it, but I spinned and blocked, kicking with my back leg. My leg hit him right above the groin, quite lucky for him, knocking off one of his pouches. I jumped, grabbing it, and rolled to avoid his attack. The audience, normally loud, cheering for either of the competitors, suddenly became quiet. All had seen how high I had jumped to obtain the pouch, and it was quite high. Jesse glanced around, and as he did so, I crawled backwards to put distance between us. I performed a tricky maneuver, a dodge roll.

As I rolled towards him, he anticipated being able to hit me as I neared, but he was incorrect. I stopped mid-way, and as he slammed his sword into the ground, I leaped at him. In an instant, I had fallen past him and hit him in the arm, knocking him down. I snatched the fallen pouches and ran to the other end of the stage, placing the pouches on my net. Jesse stood up, enraged. Believing this was easy, I tried to duck and strike across his chest, only for it to be blocked and met by a flurry of hits.

Miraculously, all of them hit me directly on the head, and none of the pouches flew off. He stepped back and raised his sword high, ready to deliver the final blow. My extra boost of energy now kicked in to its fullest, and I lifted my hand up. His toy sword became jammed in-between two of my fingers, an act that normally would have made my hand numb for hours. I quickly performed an uppercut, and despite the four pouches flying off of him, I continued to hit him repeatedly, until all his last pouches were on the ground.

While he lay on the floor, in awe at what I had just done, I casually walked over and picked up the pouches. My hand hurt, slightly, but not significantly. The bell rang again, once again signifying that I had won. I walked back down to the stage to spectate the other fight, which came as soon as Jesse could be dragged off of the stage. Eald easily, (very easily) defeated Ahmed. He was faster, and stronger than any toy swordsman I had faced before. I wondered if even my newfound energy could help me in this next fight, against such a skilled warrior. I sighed.

I walked up to the stage, preparing myself for the championship fight. It was nearly 4:00 in the afternoon, plenty of sunlight remaining. Eald prepared to step up, but suddenly stopped, staring towards me. It seemed not to be directed at me, but through me. Quizzically, I stared at him in confusion. Why was he not coming up? Why…?

My answer came sooner than I had thought, and sooner than I had hoped. In a split second, I felt an immense blow on the back of my head, with sufficient strength to knock me to the ground. I turned, and turned to see a silhouette against the sun. I could tell it was a short person, too short… Yes, it was Thiago. I focused on his face, and I could see his anger. His face was scrunched up into one of sheer hate. He was not crying, but he was enraged. He kicked me in the leg and slammed me in the stomach with his toy sword. Utilizing my newfound speed, I began to roll away from him as quickly as I could, towards the shocked audience.

He ran at me and jumped over me, kicking me in the face, laughing. I lay there for a few seconds, rubbing dirt off my face, and quickly made my move. I turned towards him, and as he planned to drive his foot into my gut, I jumped to my feet and rammed his chest with my forehead. The intensity of the blow drove him away, but he was not done. He was stunned for a moment, before regaining his senses and charging me. He had no sense of what he would do, though. He wanted to hurt me, simply. Foolish plan, but effective when used against the right opponent. Fortunately, that would not be me.

I dodged his slow horizontal slash and punched him straight above the neck. I drove my fist into his skull, right near the back of his head, and he quickly dropped. The sword, meanwhile, fell from his hand. Nearby emergency medics rushed onto the stage and picked him up, taking him away. I sighed, and sat down to relax for a few minutes. The media quickly crowded me, beginning to ask me questions about my skill in The Struggle, but I ignored it until the tournament officials walked over to me, and asked that I return to the stage to finish the tournament. Of course, my injuries were not priority, and I had no choice other than probably be disqualified.

Once I got up on stage, I looked at Eald closely. He held his blade across his chest with his right arm, his left arm hanging from his shoulder. Eald'Narche was a mysterious fellow, with long blonde hair which hung down to his chin level. His left eye is covered with an eyepatch for some reason, probably some accident as a child. He usually wore a blue vest with several copper straps and pockets. He was enigmatic, and always wore this odd suit. On more than one occasion, somebody had tried to steal the articles of clothing (which appeared to be of quite a high price) only to be met by a punch to the face. That used to be the case, nobody messes around with Eald like this now. Everybody knows the result.

The bell rang, and I could barely react, before he struck. He sped towards me as fast as he could, and whacked me across the chest with the blade, knocking 3 of my pouches to the ground. I picked one of them up, and rolled, trying to hit his leg. He blocked me, before countering my move with a strike to the foot, knocking down one of my pouches as I fell. Once again, I rolled up and looked at him closely, before leaping up to my feet. He ran at me, and then I focused my strength on my feet, propelling me up.

I jumped higher than during the last duel against Jesse, and felt like I had flown. I struggled to keep my focus, and struck Narche across the shoulders, knocking him to the ground with five of his orbs as well. Now, we each held ten orbs, and he was on the ground. He got to his feet, chuckling, and made a long horizontal leap. He closed the distance between us in a second, his sword aimed at my chest, ready to deliver a massive blow. I rolled to the side, slamming into his ribs with all of my strength. All his pouches were on the ground, and I picked them up as fast as I could. One of them remained in his possession, in his left hand, the one he had managed to pick up, as he held his sword with his right. I ran towards him, as he jumped back to his feet, and we battled for the last pouch.

He attacked with a great flurry of blows unlike any other I had seen, even during the last tournament, and I blocked every attack with difficulty, until his final strike. Our swords locked, and we focused our matching strengths into a last strike. In that moment, I felt like we had connected. He suddenly gained an incredible burst of strength, and began to push my sword back towards me. I could not allow him to win, and I focused all of the energy I had in my possession into one final burst of muscle strength. I shouted, feeling the power of the hearts coarsing through my arms. At last, I won, and I slammed his sword away. One single hit in the gut was enough to send his pouch flying, and I caught it.

Everyone clapped, realizing that Eald's tournament winning spree had now been broken, and Eald smiled as he looked up at me. I felt the energy returning, and held out my hand, helping Eald to his feet. He chuckled, and shaked my hand. Suddenly, unexpectedly, I felt cold. It was very cold, cold unlike any other I had ever felt before. It was not painful, not as freezing cold, just… no heat. I looked behind, towards the sky, and saw a huge cloud; a black thunderstorm sending lightning strikes towards the ground at a phenomenal rate.

It was moving faster than anything I had ever felt before, and it was only a few moments before the wind struck. It was so fast, so overpowering, that it completely knocked me down, along with everyone in the crowd. It threw me onto the ground, and not a single person was left standing. What is happening!?


	3. Two

**Chapter 2: The Darkness**

I rolled over and cralwed onto my back, realizing that I could not stay standing with the wind pushing against me. Suddenly, the lightning began to slow down, but did not halt. Sirens began to blare through the city, and debris was flying off of rooftops, smashing into windows and walls. Bicycles began to be lifted and slammed through doors. Eald struggled as hard as he could to get to his feet, but there was a sudden gust, and he was thrown backward onto the ground. I began to slide, and I slammed my sword into the wooden platform. It penetrated, and I held on to my sword to keep from being launched into the air.

Suddenly, the wind slowed down substantially. It was still incredibly fast, but people could stand. The thunder began to get louder, the lightning brighter. Only moments passed before the dark cloud filled the sky completely, as the bright day became night. Suddenly, a massive hole appeared in the cloud, but no light showed. Instead, there was a purple fog that slowly flowed out. I heard what appeared to be a loud scream, and turned behind me towards the Memory Skyscraper's entrance, now capable of standing to my feet.

I was horrified to see a short lady being dragged away from the stage by a small black creature, something that… I had seen before. I had seen this creature before, somewhere…

Ah yes, the park. I had seen this small creature before, in the city's central park. The fountain, it was hiding in the fountain. I could see it more clearly now, however. Could this be the same thing? The abberation was small, about 3 feet high and roughly the shape of a human. Long tentacles protrude from its bald head, and its eyes are blank yellow. Its claws are nearly razor-sharp, and its feet are, proportionally, quite long. There was nothing I could do, as the small creature dragged the woman away into an alley. One man followed them into the alley. We did not see him come out, and I doubt he ever did.

I had no idea what was going on, and I had no choice but to stay still and watch. I heard a loud slam, and looked behind me to see one of the creatures wrestling with Eald, trying to claw at his face. Eald kicked the beast in the chest, then took out a large iron dagger from his pocket and slashed it in the chest. The creature was suddenly disintegrated, transforming into black fog, which rose up into the sky and disappeared. I had no idea where they were coming from, but soon, I would know. I noticed a man pointing behind me, and I turned, in surprise. I noticed a small black puddle in the ground, a puddle of strange goo. Unexpectedly, one of the creatures crawled out of it, and stared at me.

I reached behind me and pulled my toy sword out of the wood, keeping my sights on the creature, oblivious to the others appearing all around the crowd. The creature crouched down low, then pounced, launching itself at me with its claws aimed at my chest. With all my strength, I slammed it with my sword, sending it flying backwards onto the ground. It was still solid – not dead. I jumped down from the platform and hit the black creature many times, until at last, it dissolved.

I took a look behind me, and noticed the chaos. The creatures were everywhere, attacking the civilians. Eald was nowhere in sight, and the wind picked up. Pieces of rooftops began to be blown off, but I ignored it, standing strong on my two feet. Suddenly, my toy sword flew out of my hand, snatched away by an invisible force. I felt a warmth on my face, and looked down. There, I saw that the top-left (my left, your right) of my chest was glowing yellow. All the black, inky creatures stopped their assault on the people and glared at me. Instantly, I felt something form around my hand, and glanced down at it.

I noticed that, in my hands, there was a large sword-like object. It was obviously made of steel, all of it. Its hilt was a light-pink bar surrounded by a heart-shaped red cross-guard. A small insignia was attached to the hilt by a long chain. The blade itself, oddly, was not sharp at all, only a long red bar. The end, however, was incredibly sharp. It was black and, like some axes, pointed only towards one side. This was a strange weapon, and white runes were carved into the long blade of this weapon. This blade appeared to be about one meter, an odd mixture between an axe and a sword.

This weapon was light, but when swung, had the momentum of the strongest hammers. This weapon, having suddenly appeared (momentarily covered in white light) attracted the attention of the inky creatures causing chaos throughout the city. Suddenly, the creatures reared up on their legs, and leaped at me. I had little time to react, and jumped high into the air to avoid their attacks. As I fell back down, I slashed my keyblade down at the creatures. In a single slice, the creatures who had been hit dissolved, and I hit another.

"DUCK!" I heard suddenly, as I was trying to dodge the many beasts still slashing at me (some, unfortunately, succeeding). I did not think twice – I jumped onto the ground, and as I looked up, saw a longsword fly over my head and cut directly through several of the monsters, dissipating them. I stood up, and ran towards the beasts, crouching then leaping several meters over them. I rolled on the other side of the group, and picked up the longsword. I looked back, and saw Eald'Narche. The first thing I noticed was the glowing blue crystal on his chest, which had not been there before. I ignored it, and realized that this sword was his.

I threw it up in the air, then looked back at the black creatures, cutting them with my blade as they neared. By the time the last one was gone, all the people in the crowd were dead. No more nearby screams could be heard, but sirens and explosions could be heard far away. Lightning suddenly began to strike the buildings, with unnatural strength. Lightning began striking buildings throughout the entire city, blowing them apart. Lightning should not be capable of such things, and everybody realized that.

Eald and I exchanged stares, but in moments, his stare turned to one of surprise. He was staring at my blade. I simply shook my head, having no idea what it was.

"That… that is a keyblade. You, how could you…?" as he stared at it.

"A… what!?" I shouted. "I have no idea what a so-called 'keyblade' is, nor do I have any idea what is going on!" and I began to realize that he knew something about what was going on. "I don't know if any of my family is still ALIVE! What are these creatures, what is going on!?" I shouted.

He simply kept on staring, then finally looked up at me. "There is no time to explain" he said. "We must leave now, or we will be consumed along with this entire world." He said blankly. "and I do not even know enough to give you enough information. You must consult master Yen Sid. Follow me!" he said, looking away towards the city central park.

I sighed. These unknown creatures, 'heartless', have terrorized the city and there is nothing I can do about it. Eald's right, there is nothing I can do anymore. The city, and the rest of the world, is being destroyed. The only thing I can possibly do now is run, and try to escape before this place is consumed by whatever these creatures, heartless, are. As I began to follow him, I suddenly heard a huge slam behind me. Both of us looked back at once, and saw one of the small portals forming on the wall of the abandoned building. However, this portal was colossal, about the size of a swimming pool. That's not good.

Eald looked at me in confusion, then back at the creature. He had no idea what this was either. That, of course, meant that now was the time to run. I saw a large, clawed arm reach from the portal and grab the platform lifting it up and me with it. I quickly ran to the edge and jumped off, landing in front of the Memory Skyscraper. I looked inside, and realized… that this was somehow related to the door, that I had opened. I ignored the idea and turned, following Eald as he ran towards the park. Behind me, the rest of the arm cleared the portal, and the head was soon to follow.

The two of us reached the park in a few minutes, sprinting as fast as we could, and we were out of breath when we reached the grass. The park was on fire, and I could see debris from several of the destroyed buildings covering parts of the park. Eald and I heard scuffling, and turned behind us to the alleyway. There, a crowd of dozens of heartless stood piling up on top of eachother, charging at us. We had wondered why we had not found any heartless on the way to the park, and I would have preferred that to one massive group of them.

"Behind us, there is another group of them." Eald whispered. "A larger group, an ambush. Can you handle the ones in the alleyway?" he asked.

"Gladly." I responded, with bitter joy. "Go." I whispered, and Eald turned, running at the crowd behind us.

I shouted, charging the heartless in the alley. They leaped up, seemingly at once, and attempted to overpower me. I jumped up, as high as I could, and spun, cutting several heartless. As I fell towards the ground, I raised my sword up high, dissolving several of them as my keyblade hit them. They were quick, and began to jump up on my shoulders, cutting my arms and chest. I was trapped, and I focused all my leg strength into one mighty jump. I managed to break through those above me, hanging onto a ledge on the building next to me, one heartless still hanging onto my foot. I held my keyblade and struck it in the head, destroying it.

The others began to climb up the building to reach me, and I cut them as they neared. Eald was busy, and by the time I was finished, I had actually believed that it was done. There were still sirens, and the wind suddenly increased in strength. Roofs were being ripped off, houses being destroyed, civilians still being killed. There were too many heartless, and two teenagers couldn't possibly do anything. By the time Eald was finished, we began running towards the fountain. It was only then, that I realized that the source of the invasion was the portal, the fog, up in the sky. The cloud of darkness, a door of sorts, that allowed these heartless to enter this world.

We fought several heartless on the way to the fountain, and by the time we were there, I was cut and bruised. Eald, however, was fine (albeit tired) after fighting several heartless. It was then, only then, that I realized that we had not seen everything. I heard an immense smash behind us, and turned quickly. There, the large heartless we had seen before near the Memory Skyscraper rose up over the surrounding buildings, and appeared to be looking straight at us. It was immense, larger than any of the other buildings and certainly capable of killing Eald and myself. It was probably a thousand feet tall, and that was truly dreadful.

The creature was colossal, larger than even the Memory Skyscraper, the largest tower in the city. Hundreds, if not a thousand, feet high and containing the strength of the entire city's population. The creature was snake-like, yet still black and inky. It had the lower body of a snake, with a humanoid torso and arms. Long tentacles, like those belonging to the smaller heartless, wavered in the air, attached to its head. Its claws were razor-sharp, and it was moving towards the park at a phenomenal speed.

I gasped, and turned to Eald. "We have no chance of killing this thing, and you decided to lead us here. What now!?" I shouted.

"See the portal up top there, that allowed the heartless to enter?" he asked, looking up. "Well, that is also the way out of here, and I know how to get us to a safe world." He said.

"Well, okay then. Take us." I said impatiently, realizing that the large heartless was only minutes away, and every second counted now. "Well, do it!" I shouted, glancing to my left to look at the huge heartless.

"I cannot, your keyblade must. I can transport us there, but we will be corrupted and destroyed by the darkness. Use your keyblade to light the way." He said calmly, looking down at the powerful weapon.

"And –how– exactly do I do that?" I asked.

"Aim your keyblade up at the portal, try to focus your energy on the blade, unleash it." He said, glancing up to the portal.

I stared at him for a moment, then looked up at the portal. I tried, as hard as I could, to shut off from the rest of the world. The keyblade, my energy, it had to be focused. I exhaled, grasping the keyblade with both of my hands. I held it up to the portal, and it felt light as a stick. I struggled, focusing my energy on my arms, and towards my keyblade. This weapon was obviously magical; I began to feel the effects of this, and the energy was drained from me. I aimed the keyblade at the portal, and pulled the keyblade back. I swung it, and stopped it as it pointed towards the portal. In an instant, a blinding ray of light shot out of the keyblade at a phenomenal speed.

It soared through the air until it touched the portal, and penetrated it. Seconds later, I could hear towers in the distance, being blown apart. The wind picked up immensely, and if not for the power lended to me by this blade, I would not have been capable of standing. Eald stood on his feet as well. As trees were uprooted, houses decimated, and the world destroyed, a glimmer of light appeared behind the incredible darkness of the heartless portal. Eald looked at me, and I dropped the keyblade, kneeling in exhaustion. A bright blue light shimmered in his crystal, and suddenly grew incredibly bright.

In moments, a shining white circle had formed around the two of us, and a bubble of quickly brightening light was appearing. Through it, I could see the colossal heartless above us, and as it prepared to slam its fist into us, the bubble disappeared. In mere moments, the world I had known my entire life would be obliterated, everyone consumed by darkness. My life, however, has already been consumed, by power.


	4. Three

Chapter 3: The Tower

I felt myself flying, nothingness around me. I had fallen unconscious, it appears, during Eald's little magic trick. Now, I felt an odd absence of heat. It bore a striking resemblance to what I had experienced back on Rolin, but there was no wind, no ground. It was like water, this floating sensation. And yet, I could easily breath, and felt nothing around me. I dared not open my eyes, dreading what might appear to me. I sighed, and decided that if I must open my eyes to discover my surroundings.

My eyes opened, and I gasped in shock. Around me was an unnatural black fog, not unlike what I had seen on Rolin before… before its consumption. Yes, it was thick, and it appeared that I was in a tunnel of nothingness, surrounded by this evil force. It seemed, however, that I was safe inside the tunnel. Shades of purple occasionally appeared, as I watched the fog. I moved my arms and legs, but I could not move my entire body. I began to get nervous, and quickly glanced around. I could tell that Eald was not present, and neither were any heartless. Seemingly, there was no danger being here, but you never know when something might appear. With this in mind, I warily watched around me, trying to find a way out.

I was floating backwards, or 'up'. And yet, there was no true 'up' or 'down'. I was simply flying headfirst into further darkness, with no gravity holding me down. I felt all around me, and I realized that I did not have the keyblade with me. It seemed to have disappeared somehow. Nothing was present here, and there was silence. After several minutes had passed, as I looked 'upwards', I noticed that there was a bright light at the end of this tunnel of darkness. It would not be so blinding, if I had not been floating in darkness for the past ten minutes. Quickly, I felt inside my pant pockets and realized that there was nothing there. My money was completely gone. That was not a problem though; from now on, I probably would not need it.

The light was annoying, so I closed my eyes and soon could see the brightness through my eyelids. I decided to keep them open, although I squinted my eyes. In moments, the light had overtaken the darkness, and I closed my eyes once more. It was only a second before I felt a breeze, a wonderful breeze… and gravity. Oh, gravity, that's not good. I opened my eyes, and all I could see was green before I slammed into the ground, face-first. I lay there for about a minute, feeling the warm grass, savoring the wind on my body. Recovering from my three or four-meter fall as well. Soon, I decided to take a look at my surroundings.

I opened my eyes and stood up, looking around me. I was in a grassy… Plateau? Wait, no… what? In the distance was the sky, the sun brightening the sky and its clouds with a bright orange glow. As I looked from side to side, I realized that only a few meters away from my location, the ground suddenly gave way to a steep cliff. Perhaps, I was now standing atop a grassy mesa. Oddly, all I could see in the distance was the field of orange clouds. The entire sky was covered with this glow, and… it didn't seem as if the sun was actually the source of this light. I stumbled to my feet and walked over to the edge, looking downwards. I was shocked, and quickly stepped back, not to fall down.

There was no cliff, in fact. I was standing on a floating island. Beneath me, there were only more clouds. To my left and my right, all I could see was this layer of clouds. I noticed several other floating islands nearby, and like this one, they appeared to be still. I could tell that there was no way down, sighing in frustration. Soon, I realized that there was nowhere to go. I turned around, mentally analyzing my problem and trying to see if there was anything I could possibly do to escape. Then, as I looked up from the ground, my thoughts paused. My planning had ended, and I was focused on what stood before me.

Before me, I saw three immense towers rising up from the ground. They were immense, oddly twisted. They were obviously made of beige-painted brick, with the center tower far larger than either of the other two. They looked the same, with equal-colored bricks and the same green cone roofs. The smallest seemed to have no purpose; it did not even have a door, but it did have two small windows through which I could see nothing but darkness. That tower was obviously made only for decoration. The other small tower, to the left, was much larger. Still, it was smaller than the central tower. The left tower had only a small wooden door, but again, only darkness could be seen through the small square-shaped windows.

The largest tower, the central tower, was immense though. It was larger than both of the other towers, large enough that I was too tired to bother looking up to see the cone roof. Its doors were big; wooden double-doors with huge golden handles. I turned my head to several of the other sky islands, and struggled to see them in detail. I realized that there were towers such as this on each island, of different sizes that I certainly couldn't estimate from this distance. I gave up, and turned back to the large wooden double-doors. I walked up to them, breathing heavily from exhaustion. It seems that I had become exhausted from my trip in Eald's "tunnel of darkness".

I pulled on one of the handles with all my strength and, despite my exhaustion, managed to easily slam it open, and I heard a large slam as the door reached its limit and slowly began closing once more. It seems that I don't know my own strength. I'm not sure that anything I have learned before this incident matters anymore. I must discover my true potential and find out how to use it, in this new life I will experience. Unless this is all a very realistic dream (more of a nightmare, really), I will have to find my place in this new land. That is precisely what I want to find out about here. Finding where Eald has gone off too is also an objective. I must exact my vengeance on the heartless whenever possible.

I prepared myself for what was inside and drew my keyblade, walking into the tower. I stopped, inside, and the sound of the door shutting was the only sound to be heard. The tower's inside was, as far as I could tell, a single spiral stairway extending up to near the top. The shining wooden spiral staircase was wide, and as I stepped towards it over the granite floor, I realized something extraordinary. The rest of the stairway was blocked by a wall of gleaming green light, lit up by various torches on the first floor of the tower. I decided to jump in, and tried as hard as I could to extinguish any second thoughts from my mind. I slung the keyblade over my shoulder and ran into it.

As I moved through the green 'fog', I felt a wonderful coolness throughout my body, a relief from aching and pain. It refreshed me, and I stopped in the middle of the way through the thin green wall. I stood there for several moments, exhaling and feeling the power of healing. I soon realized that the sooner I find out what is in this tower, the better. I ran through, and looked around me in shock. The tower had grown many times wider, and the staircase was straight, sloping upwards. I ran to the edge, and noticed that there was a field of light below me.

The staircase was in the center of the tower, which was now at least 20 meters from one side to the other. As I looked upwards, I saw another stairway in this section of the tower. I noticed that the stairway was a spiral staircase, floating in mid-air but unmoving. Soon, I realized that I was standing on the same sort of stairway and decided to move up as quickly as possible. Upon reaching the top of this short section of stairway, I discovered not another magical fog, but a blue door. I grabbed the copper handle and opened the door, looking inside in surprise. It was a large, circular room, empty of any furniture or people, which did not surprise me very much. The walls, however, were covered in glowing yellow moon carvings.

I walked into the center of the room, looking around in amazement. As I turned to the yellow door, I noticed something odd. This door had a carving as well, but a huge carving, of an arrow. The arrow pointed upwards, and as I turned back to the door that I had come from, I realized that it had the same carving. Oddly, however, it pointed downwards. As far as I can tell, I can still go farther up into the tower. I turned back to the yellow door and walked through, finding myself on a spiral staircase. Having intelligence surpassing that of a 5-year-old, I quickly realized that I was on the stairway I had seen from the straight stair below.

Wasting no time, I ran towards the other door. I did not bother to look up, to realize that another stairway awaited me even further up in this immense tower, the walls of which were given a pale-green glow from the field of light far below. This door was yellow as well, with no arrow carvings here. Opening the door slowly, I found myself in a room very similar to the one that I had entered before. It was blue, however, and the walls were filled with moon carvings. Despite my amazement at what I had seen in the tower, I had no time to stand around and stare. I needed answers.

I ran through the yellow door on the other side of the room, ignoring the carvings which appeared on the door, and found myself on another stair. This one, I had not seen. I ran to the edge of the stair and looked down, noticing the spiral staircase below. Only now did I realize just how high above ground I probably was. I was high, far higher than I had seen the tower's height as. I knew there was a strange force at work here, I just didn't realize what it was.

Before I began getting scared of heights, I decided to turn away from the edge and to the wide stairway. This small, straight section led to an unpainted wooden door. I walked up the stair slowly, and I slowly grabbed the golden handle, gripping it and sighing. I realized that from now would be the time. I would have no choice but to cast away anything I have ever learned before. I guess it already was, wasn't it? Well then, I guess its time I go ahead and overcome my fear… fear of the future, and what it holds for myself. I slammed the door open and ran in, holding my keyblade ready for anything. What I saw surprised me. This room was normal, a round beige-colored room slammer than the two pointless rooms I had seen before.

The room's walls were covered in bookshelves, and there (obviously) were huge amounts of literature. I could not tell what kind of literature it was, but there was plenty of it. I could see two doors, one to the right and the other to the left, huge green-painted wooden doors. In the center of the room was a tall cushioned chair, in front of which was a long, empty desk. A candle torch was set in a small hole on the desk. A huge book was lying open on the desk, but I ignored it and walked behind the chair. Behind the chair, much of the wall's space was taken by several windows, which looked out upon the sky in the distance. The windows were in the shape of moons and stars, each one quite large. I stared for a few moments, into the distance, before I heard one of the doors opening. I turned to see the left door (from my current point of view, at least) opening up.

I readied my keyblade and prepared for this new threat.


	5. Four

Chapter 4: Yen Sid

I waited until the door was open, then held my keyblade at my shoulder, bracing myself for whatever came out and pushing myself against the floor. I jumped at the figure and swung my keyblade, ready to destroy it in a single blow. As the door shut, my eyes shut, and my keyblade slammed into the figure. I opened my eyes, and was shocked at the result of my blow. My keyblade had not hit a heartless, but a huge spherical shield. The shield filled the blue with bright-blue light, and it was large enough to protect something large, whatever it was. I could not believe what was happening here. It seemed that the heartless were more powerful than I thought. Regardless, I would be able to destroy whatever was behind this shield, with the use of the keyblade.

Suddenly, I felt a split second of warmth on my chest, resonating from the shield. Before I could possibly expect it, a huge, yellow bolt of lightning blew out of the shield and hit me directly in the chest. This lightning had incredible strength, and I was slammed back onto the wall, cracking the window behind me. The thunder still rang in my eardrums as I slumped to the ground, and looked down at my torso. My shirt was burnt at the center, and my skin had no feeling. I dared not look at it, and so I turned up towards my opponent. I lost breath as I realized what my target was. Not a heartless at all, but an old man.

He was extremely tall, far higher than I had thought the person in the shield was (. He wore long blue robes, which extended past his feet and dragged on the floor behind him. Above his head, a huge, pointy starry blue wizard hat made his size appear even more intimidating. His face (especially his eyes) were wrinkly, and he had a long beard, which was completely attached to his hair. It was gray, nicely shaved but hanging down to his chest. His hair was, logically, just as long. Long and hard, he stared at me with those eyes, a single curious (and, I might add, very thick) eyebrow raised high above the other. All I could do was stay still; I had no idea how capable this old man was, but I knew that if he wanted to, he could easily dispose of me.

In moments, the firey sensation on my chest was gone, and though I knew my skin was burnt, I could no longer feel it. The old man turned his attention to my keyblade, and I glanced at it for a moment, then turning back to the man. He held up one of his hands, not for a moment turning away from myself and the keyblade which I held. I noticed, out of nothingness, a large green leaf appear in his hands and flutter for a few moments. Unexpectedly, it dissolved into the air in the form of fog, disappearing completely. Suddenly, I felt energy surge through my body, and my injuries healed. I felt better then I had even felt before falling onto this 'island'. I had enough strength to stand up, but I dared not do so, looking down my shirt to examine my skin.

I found that it was fine, devoid of any burns whatsoever, and I certainly did not sense any pain either. I was finally relaxed, and I lay there for a bit before pulling myself up with the keyblade. I looked up at the old man, and finally realized that this figure was not hostile and, again, not at all related to the heartless which had hounded me back on my homeworld. We stared at eachother, blankly, for several minutes before I gathered my strength and broke the ice.

"You… You are not a heartless?" I asked, just to be certain.

He continued staring for a moment before answering, "No, not at all. Know that the heartless are mindless, acting on instinct. They do not think as we do, young man."

"Then, who are you?" I asked.

"My name, yes. My name is Yen Sid," he responded, "and I have ruled over this land for many ages. Your name?"

"Its Marcello, and I suddenly stumbled onto your 'land' after everything I ever knew, everyone I ever loved, was destroyed by the heartless." I said, anger setting in. "And I _demand_ answers!" I shouted.

Yen Sid remained silent, then replied, "I'm afraid I can only provide some answers. I pity you, but I do not know what has happened. I only can explain some things, the rest you will have to discover alone."

I was not any calmer, responding "Well then, I guess its good that you'll tell me what you know then, won't you?" I said, holding up my keyblade.

"Your threats," he said, "will do nothing to sway my decisions. Even with the keyblade, and the powerful light within you, you are weak and untrained."

"Then…" I muttered, cooling down, "I'm sorry for my behavior, but I need to know." I said. "I need to find out what the heartless are, and I want to become powerful enough, enough to destroy them."

Yen Sid raised and eyebrow, smiling. "Well, that has all been planned. First of all, however, I must explain to you what I already know of the heartless." He said, and I listened attentively.

He began his explanation. "You see, inside every heart there is light and darkness. Anger, rage, deception all blackens the heart and dims the light further. Once, the worlds were plentiful with light, and its citizens lived in peace. Eventually, some began fighting over the darkness, and their hearts became too dark. There were few heartless, but they would grow in number as they began hunting for more hearts.

"There were very few, but they grew immensely, and soon found the door to the heart of the world in which the chaos had begun. The heartless immediately swarmed into the door and covered the world in darkness. As a result, the world's light was destroyed and a huge number of heartless were born. Most of these, however, disappeared into a place I have no idea the location of." He said, shaking his head.

"The world, as a result, was completely annihilated. Heartless that did not disappear fanned out into other worlds through the door, which we know as the Corridor of Darkness. The surviving citizens were sent through the corridor to another world, blackening their hearts." Yen Sid said, sighing.

"They arrived at several different worlds. Many arrived in one world that you shall investigate once you are ready, but I will explain that later. Now, you see, several arrived at your own world, Marcello. Just how they managed to suddenly multiply and find the heart of the world, I have no knowledge of. Perhaps, you can enlighten me on what exactly you were doing before the heartless invaded?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I thought for a while, about what I had just done before the heartless infiltrated the city and destroyed it completely. I had participated in the Struggle Tournament, and won. That could not have had anything to do with it. I continued thinking, recalling that I had entered the wooden house with some friends before the tournament, looking for answers to some rumors. Before that… the Memory Skyscraper, in the basement, the door. I was speechless, and I thought about it long and hard. The hearts.. Yes, I had opened the door, to the heart of the world.

No wonder I had felt this newfound strength in me, the energy that I had needed to win the Struggle Tournament and fight the heartless. I had been powered, controlled by it, the light of the world itself had given me strength. And yet, in return, I had caused the destruction of everything I had ever known. I was like a leech then, and I would live the rest of my life with that knowledge. I slumped down to the floor in horror, recalling that moment when I had become showered in light, given the power of so many hearts. Like a double-edged sword, what I had once believed a wondrous occurrence was, in fact, the cause of death for so many people who had trusted me, and would never know their true murderer.

I looked up to Yen Sid in shock, and spoke as clearly as I could now, trying to explain what I had done to cause the doom of so many. "I… I did it, I caused the death of so many, its my fault." I muttered.

"What did you do, young one?" Yen Sid asked.

"I… I opened the door to the world, the door to its heart. I unlocked it, I absorbed its strength, and so… Is that, is that why I obtained the keyblade?" I asked, looking down at the blade in my hands.

By the look of his face, I could tell that he knew what I had done, and I bowed my head in sorrow. We both stayed silent for a few minutes, before I heard him respond. "So, your heart was strong, and you opened the door to the world's light… That is why you have proven to be so strong. That is also how you obtained the keyblade, I believe." He said.

I looked up at him, pushing myself up to my feet with the blade, doing as best I can to ignore the horrible act I had committed. "Well then, I guess the heartless have gotten my world as well, and there's nothing I can do to get it back. I swear, I will use this keyblade, and I will **destroy** those damned heartless!" I shouted.

"If many of the heartless have disappeared now, as with the other world, there should not be many. I will go out and I will destroy them." I said, smiling.

Yen Sid sighed, shaking his head slowly. "I'm afraid its not that simple, there are many heartless still, and they are scattered. With the keyblade, you can destroy them, but there will be powerful heartless that can eliminate you.

"That is all that I know of the heartless, and of you and the keyblade. How the keyblade appeared and came to you, exactly, I do not know. My only source of information is Eald, who has been investigating the heartless for many decades now, and I do not recall how he discovered the keyblade. He is, in fact, much older than either of your friends. With an extra helping hand, we should be able to unravel the mystery of these creatures. You might, perhaps, have your chance for revenge." He said.

"In that case," I said, "I will help you. There is nothing else left for me, no more than this keyblade, and I will aid you in your discoveries." I stated loudly, feeling my morale rise each moment as I realized that a new life was ready for me. I finally had a place to go, and now, I have found it.

Yen Sid grinned slightly, and looked over at the long desk. "You may be seated on the desk if you like. I shall go, and speak with Eald about this." He said, before walking into the other door.

I stared at the other door for a while, expecting him to return, then realized that it was pointless. I turned towards the desk and stumbled towards it, turning on my back and laying down on it. I lay there for a long time, relaxing, thinking over what this all meant. I have no chance of fighting all the heartless alone, so probably I will have Eald's help in solving the mystery of the heartless and the keyblade. Certainly, I would not have made it far in the city without his help. To my knowledge, this trip (if Yen Sid goes along with his plan) will not be easy, in any way. And yet, I must fight, if so to avenge all those who had been killed by these monsters. The heartless practically asked for war, and now they've got it.

I soon felt the unexplainable urge to stand and, only moments after I had done so, I found Yen Sid entering through the door next to me. I turned to him, feeling my energy completely restored, and holding my keyblade down to my side. He stood there, and soon I heard footsteps behind him. In a few seconds, I noticed Eald walk in, in his same attire that I had always seen him wear. His dagger was at his side in a sheath, and he smiled upon seeing me.

"It is excellent to hear that you survived, I feared that something had occurred during your trip. It would certainly be a problem if the Keyblade wielder was destroyed by my faulty magic." He said, his smile fading. "Master Yen Sid, he is capable of great abilities, I'm certain of it. He showed greater skill than I could imagine, fighting the heartless." He said, turning his head up to Yen Sid.

Yen Sid nodded, "Perhaps you are right, and I hope so, because alone, it would be impossible for you to fight the heartless alone." He said to Eald, turning back to me. "Eald'Narche will teach you how to use your keyblade to its fullest extent, but his magic is not perfected. For that you will need the fairies to teach you what they know. I may aid you in your magic teachings as well, and so you will become a powerful Keyblade wielder." Yen Sid said. "There is also the matter of gummi's, but those I shall explain later on in your training."

I considered it a moment, and realized that I had no other choice that I would choose. "Well then, you can start touring me around. This tower is larger than I imagined, by looking at it," I said, "So I'm guessing that there is space here for my training?" I asked.

Eald grinned, looking out the window for a moment then back at me. "Afraid not, this tower can only be so big. The facilities are on other islands, you can travel there with the use of some portals. I don't think you have any idea how capable Master Yen Sid is. He possesses all the islands in this little piece of a world." He said, smiling. "Call this place the combined light of a whole world. That is basically what this is. Of course each world has a dark land as well, but of that, we do not know." He said, shaking his head.

I smiled, looking out the window at some islands in the distance. I continued staring for a while. "Well then, I guess I'm gonna be here for quite a while."


End file.
